Food carts have been all the rage for a while in a lot of hip cities (i.e. the other Portland). So when Skinny Cart BBQ popped up on Washington Ave. I was psyched. Not a traditional food cart, in, uh, that it’s not actually mobile, this shack still envokes the same style- no seating, in a parking lot, with a small daily menu.

To show our support of this (hopefully) burgeoning industry, Uke and I ventured out for lunch on one of those nice early spring days we had a few weeks ago.

As you can see here, by 1pm the Bacon Bong was sold out. Sign says, “you figure it out,” but since we couldn’t actually eat one, I never did figure out what it was. But Ron threw some bacon (free ‘o’ charge- my favorite kind of bacon) onto our Barbequeish sandwiches to make up for the lack of options.

So here it is, in all it’s meaty, saucy glory. Definitely hard to eat- super messy, with lots of beef and onions to drag out into your lap as you over look the industrialness that is the backside of Marginal Way. But the sauce is sweet, tomatoey, and peppery (or maybe that was the bacon, yes!), and the meat is pink and juicy.

And just so you know, while we weren’t offered it the first time we ordered, when Uke went back for a sandwich to go for her gf, Ron asked if she wanted creamy horseradish sauce (or Tiger sauce as we call it in MD pit beef lingo!). I was a little disappointed I missed this option on the first go-round, so be sure to ask for it if sinus-clearing is your thing.

So hit up Ron’s Skinny Cart BBQ, Mon-Fri (maybe Sat?) 11am-3pm and support your local food cart/shack thing. Maybe in the near future we’ll have cheese fries, taco carts, and gourmet burger carts on every corner. A girl can dream!

Funny story- Ron is super friendly, and when he gave us our sandwiches, he said, “If you like it, I dunno, blog about it or somethin’.” Uke and I had a good laugh. We said, “Don’t worry, we will!”